Comprehensive Guide to Important Documents Needed for Listing Your Home (Part 2)

Essential Documents You Must Prepare Before Listing Your Home: Part 2

Selling a home requires considerable paperwork. To avoid any inconvenience, keep these documents at hand before listing your home for sale.

Identification Documents of Involved Parties

  • Both sellers and buyers must provide adequate and updated personal identification documents to avoid financial crimes, money laundering scams, wire fraud, and similar predatory behavior. Original identification documents ensure the legal protection of both parties from fraud.

Keep original and updated driver’s license or state-issued identification card at hand. For verification of your mailing address, produce a copy of a utility bill or bank statement that was sent to your official mailing address.

Homeowners Association (HOA) Documents

  • If your home is a part of the Home Owner’s Association (HOA), it is best to keep all the relevant documents prepared before listing your home. HOA is a private organization that governs a housing community, regulates its laws, and collects dues for development and maintenance projects.

The HOA has a set of rules regarding the appearance of your home, the cost of property assessments, and whether you can rent your home to other parties. This is important information that will help the buyer in making an informed decision. Therefore, provide the buyer with the following HOA documents:

  • Articles of incorporation
  • Bylaws
  • Rules and regulations
  • Homeowners’ dues
  • Copies of the minutes from the Association’s meetings of the past two years
  • The Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions

Appliance Warranties

  • If appliances are included in the sale agreement, make sure to provide appliance manuals and warranties. These are official documents related to the appliances. They inform the buyer about the state of the appliances he is purchasing. Provide manuals and warranties for washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, garbage disposals, etc.

Original Sale Contract

The original sale contract is a legal document that identifies you as the owner of the home. It is the document you signed when you purchased the home. The original sale contract proves that you are the owner of the home and highlights key information such as:

  • Original sale price
  • Disclosures about the home
  • Agreed upon terms and conditions at the time of purchase of the home

Previous Utility Bills

  • While it is not mandatory to provide utility bills, in most cases, buyers want to know the average cost of utilities the house uses. This gives buyers an understanding of the expected utility bills if they are to purchase your house. Therefore, be prepared to offer previous gas, water, electricity, municipality, or sewer bills if the prospective buyer demands them.

Final Purchase and Sale Agreement

Listing Your Home

  • The final purchase and sale agreement is an important legal document that records the sale of the home and describes the agreed-upon term. This document includes important details pertaining to financial transactions, such as, earnest money, sale price, terms of closing, included disclosures, tax information, etc.

The final purchase and sale agreement is drafted in the presence of both the buyer’s and seller’s attorney. This document also highlights the closing costs, which gives both the buyer and the seller an understanding of their financial responsibilities.

  • Selling a home requires considerable time, energy, dedication, and attention to detail. The tedious paperwork can be tiresome for most sellers. You can offload this tedious yet important task to professional realtors. To expedite the paperwork collection process, seek the help of a professional realtor.

Are you looking for a trustworthy realtor in Morris County? Contact Jackie Scura. We are an experienced team of real estate professionals who provide expert guidance and support throughout the home-selling process. Call us at (973) 319-8334 for more information.

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